Ed Schultz's ratings continued to plummet last week, falling to just 41 thousand in a key demographic. So, how did the MSNBC host respond to the bad news? He opened his show on Monday by demanding that other journalists focus more on climate change. Regarding a global warming protest in New York City, Schultz demanded, "Ask yourself a question. How can so many people gather, such little attention?" [See MP3 audio here. ] He assailed his fellow TV personalities: "I think the media is not covering climate change to the way it should be covered because they know that Washington... continue reading
Sitting down with CBS This Morning co-host Charlie Rose at Monday's Clinton Global Initiative conference, former President Bill Clinton fawned over the longtime PBS interviewer: "The reason I like your program is you interview everybody the same. And you ask hard questions, just like you threw a few zingers at me, but you always give people the chance to tell their story.... You never go into an interview...with the purpose of really just screwing the person you're interviewing..." [ Listen to the audio ] Perhaps Clinton's high praise was a thank you to Rose for doing such a friendly softball... continue reading
Starting on Monday night, a series of town hall meetings in Ferguson, Missouri began taking place in light of the death of 18-year-old Michael Brown in conjunction with the Department of Justice (DOJ) that will be closed to the media. When it came to the major broadcast networks reporting this censoring of the press, none of them chose to cover it. According to an article posted on MSNBC’s website, an agency within the DOJ known as the Community Relations Service (CRS) has been “working behind the scenes to cool racial tensions in the city” by coming in and closing “the... continue reading
On Monday night’s NBC Nightly News , the program took a look at how Utah is now allowing teachers to obtain concealed carry permits to have firearms in their schools after training and continually passing background checks. As the media have done countless times (examples can be found here , here , and here ), they found a way to turn it into coming across as a bad thing and advance the gun control agenda. NBC News senior legal and investigative correspondent Cynthia McFadden interviewed special education teacher Casey Hanson and seemed intrigued by her decision to purchase a pistol... continue reading
On Sunday's Reliable Sources , CNN's Brian Stelter touted a disgraced former representative as a non-partisan pundit and as an expert on media bias: " Now, I could bring in two partisan commentators now to argue about the media , but I'd rather from someone who's been in the glare of the news media – someone who's all too familiar with what happens when you go from darling to bad boy – then, maybe, back and forth. That's former Congressman Anthony Weiner ." Weiner went out of his way to acclaim CNN's supposed neutrality over competitors MSNBC and Fox News:... continue reading
In an interview with Ken Burns on Sunday's web-based Meet the Press feature Press Pass , moderator Chuck Todd asked the historian and film-maker about his PBS documentary on the Roosevelts: "It's amazing what the press didn't cover....I mean, and if they had, obviously it could have changed history." Burns responded: It could. But I think we focus too much – we presume that because there was a gentleman's agreement to turn off the cameras as he [FDR] started to stand up or when he started to sit down, that we know less.... "Wasn't that quaint an arrangement? They sort... continue reading
Starting Friday night, CBS began previewing an exclusive 60 Minutes interview with Leon Panetta, which aired Sunday night, where the former Secretary of Defense said he had advised President Obama to arm the Syrian rebels as early as 2012. Despite Panetta’s criticism of President Obama’s strategy to combat ISIS, ABC and NBC have ignored the story altogether since the preview for the interview first aired on Friday’s CBS Evening News w/ Scott Pelley . During an interview with CBS’s Scott Pelley, Panetta argued that in order to defeat ISIS “my view was to have leverage to do that, we would... continue reading
The hosts on NBC's Today spent over a minute of air time on Monday applauding Louisiana Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu for helping a fan tailgating at an LSU football game do a keg stand. Co-host Matt Lauer touted how Landrieu "may do just about anything to get your vote" given that she was "in the middle of a really tough reelection campaign." Substitute co-host Hoda Kotb concluded: "I think that wins her votes, personally....I do guarantee you, in Louisiana, that definitely helps. I mean that helps in the vote department. For sure, right?" [ Listen to the audio ] According... continue reading
If it’s Sunday, it’s time to advance liberal hopes. NBC’s Meet the Press with Chuck Todd and ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos both opened by plugging segments which forwarded the hope liberal Democratic dreams are becoming reality. “Some Americans suddenly saying tax cutting has gone too far,” NBC host Chuck Todd announced, leading into a soundbite from a man in Kansas: “It’s been a train wreck.” Todd picked up: “Could Republicans now become the victims of a new anti anti-tax fever?” Over on This Week , ABC’s announcer trumpeted: “And midterm shake-up. Surprising new twists in key Senate races... continue reading
On Friday morning, MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski joined the Huffington Post’s Sam Stein in calling for equal news coverage if Christie is officially exonerated in numerous investigations into his involvement of the scandal known as Bridgegate to the non-stop coverage when it broke in January. [Audio available here ] During a discussion with their panel on Friday’s Morning Joe , they discussed news that a source informed NBC News on Thursday that a federal investigation has found no evidence that New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (R) knew of or ordered lane closures on the George Washington Bridge in... continue reading